EghtesadOnline: A recent report published by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare's Statistical Center provides extensive information about job tenure in Iran, i.e. the length of time workers stay in a job.

According to the report, out of the country's 23.4 million employed population in the fiscal 2017-18, more than 12.7 million (or about 54.2%) stayed for fewer than 10 years in their main job.

Job duration for about 5.8 million employees (24.9%) was between 10 and 20 years.

About 3.1 million employees (13.2%) worked between 20 and 30 years in their main jobs while job duration of only 1.8 million employed persons (7.7%) was more than 30 years, Financial Tribune reported.

All in all, job duration of over 16.2 million employees (69.2%) was shorter than 15 years.

On average, Iranians stayed in their jobs for around 12 years in the fiscal 2017-18–a little shorter (0.1 year) than they did the year before.

Median tenure of female and male workers was around 10.8 and 12.4 years, respectively.

The average job tenure in Iran is remarkably longer than many other countries. For instance, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median number of years that American wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.2 years in January 2018, unchanged from the median in January 2016.

> Sectoral Dispersion

Out of the 23.4 million employed people in Iran last year, about 4.1 million were employed in the agriculture sector, 7.5 million in industries and 11.8 million in services.

Over 5,000 people were active in unidentified economic businesses.

Out of the 4.1 million employed people in the agriculture sector, 1.5 million (37%) held a job for lower than 10 years, about 931,000 (22.7%) between 10 and 20 years, around 688,000 (16.7%) between 20 and 30 years and around 970,000 (23.6%) for more than 30 years. Median tenure in the agriculture sector was about 18.4 years.

> Job Loss Causes

The industrial sector accounted for more than 7.5 million of the employed population. Employment in the main job of 4.2 million (55.8%) was shorter than 10 years, about 2 million (26.7%) stayed in their jobs for between 10 and 20 years, about 886,000 (11.8%) between 20 and 30 years and around 429,000 (5.7%) held their jobs for more than 30 years. Median tenure in the industrial sector was around 11.3 years.

Of the 11.8 million employed population active in the services sector, the job duration of 7 million people (59.1%) was shorter than 10 years, about 2.9 million (24.5%) stayed in their jobs for 10 to 20 years, around 1.5 million (12.9%) for 20 to 30 years and around 410,000 (3.5%) for more than 30 year in their main jobs. Median tenure in the services sector was around 10.4 years.

Iran’s unemployment rate stood at 12.1% in the last fiscal year that ended on March 20, registering a 0.3% drop compared with the year before, according to the Statistical Center of Iran. A total of 3.21 million Iranians were unemployed last year.

The center put last year’s labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population of ages 10 years and above who were economically active (either employed or looking for work)—at 40.3% or 26.58 million people, registering a 0.9% rise compared with the year before.

Women unemployment rate stood at 19.8% while joblessness among men hovered around 10.2%; that is over 2.17 million men and 1.03 million women of ages 10 and above were jobless last year. Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 64.5% and 16% respectively last year.

According to SCI, 21.35 million of men and 5.23 million of women of ages 10 and above were economically active last year.

The unemployment rate was 13.4% for urban areas (2.63 million people) and 8.2% for rural areas (572,913 people).

The unemployment rate was 13.4% for urban areas (2.63 million people) and 8.2% for rural areas (572,913 people).

SCI releases two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of population between the ages of 15 and 24 and those between 15 and 29 years.

The youth unemployment rate of those between 15 and 24 stood at 28.4% last year, posting a 0.8% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 15 and 29 years stood at 25.3% last year, posting a 0.6% decrease compared with the year before.

An earlier report by the Cooperatives Ministry showed that out of 3.2 million unemployed people in the fiscal 2017-18, about 1.8 million or more than 56% experienced frictional unemployment (those who were not working because they were in between jobs or formerly held a job).

Men accounted for 1.6 million of this population (frictional unemployment).

The biggest cause of their unemployment was the temporary nature of their jobs with 25%.

Low wage (16.3%), expulsion or layoff (14%) and completion of mandatory military service (13.5%) were other main reasons behind the unemployment of formerly employed population.

These four causes were also cited as the key reasons behind unemployment in the fiscal 2016-17.